The present invention generally relates to apparatus including two containers or container sections removably secured together; and more specifically relates to such apparatus in which the first container holds material, such as a liquid contact lens care composition, for dispensing, and the second container defines a holding compartment, for example, holding a contact lens case and/or other contact lens accessory items.
Contact lenses often require periodic treatment, for example, disinfecting, cleaning, soaking and the like, to provide substantial performance advantages. Such treatments often occur by immersing the lenses in a liquid contact lens care composition, for example, solution, while the lenses are held in a contact lens case. Such cases can be used to store contact lenses between use periods. When it is desired to treat contact lenses, the appropriate contact lens care composition is removed or dispensed from a bottle or container including the composition and passed into the contact lens case in which the contact lenses have been placed. After treatment, the contact lenses are ready for wear in the eyes of the user.
This relatively straightforward approach to caring for contact lenses does have certain drawbacks. For example, because the contact lens care composition and contact lens case are separate components, one of these components may become misplaced or otherwise unavailable. For example, in travel situations, the lens care composition or lens care case can quite easily be misplaced or not packed. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a system in which the contact lens care accessories, for example, the lens care composition, and lens case are stored together.
Combined lens care composition bottle and lens case systems have been suggested in the past. For example, bottles have been molded so as to provide a space in which the lens case can be received. However, the cost of manufacturing such prior combined systems has been relatively high. Also, such prior combined systems tend to be prone to separating the lens case from the lens care composition bottle, particularly during transit, since the lens case can be relatively easily, and unintentionally, removed from the lens care composition bottle.
New apparatus including containers, for example, containers for holding contact lens care compositions and contact lens cases and/or other items useful in using the composition, have been discovered. The present apparatus are straightforward in construction and require little, if any, complex manufacturing, particularly with regard to the lens care composition bottle. In addition, the containers are removably, yet positively, secured to each other, thereby reducing the risk that the lens case or other items secured therein will be unintentionally separated from the lens care composition bottle. Additionally, the present invention is directed to an enhanced closure assembly which inhibits unwanted leaking of the lens care composition from the bottle.
In one broad aspect of the present invention, apparatus are provided which comprise a first container and a second container. The first container defines a chamber adapted to hold a material, for example, a liquid contact lens care accessory, such as a contact lens care composition. The first container has an outlet through which the material in the chamber passes in leaving the chamber. The second container defines a compartment and is adapted to be removably secured to the first container. The second container extends outwardly away from the first container with the second container removably secured to the first container. The compartment of the second container preferably is sized and adapted to hold a plurality of contact lens accessory items. The contact lens accessory item may comprise an item selected from the group of items consisting of a contact lens holder, a supply of enzyme tablets, and an information pamphlet. Even more preferably, the second container is adapted to hold a contact lens holder for accommodating a pair of contact lenses, and another contact lens accessory item, in a side-by-side relationship.
The first container has a closed end, preferably located substantially opposite the outlet. The second container has an open end preferably positioned in close proximity to the closed end of the first container with the second container removably secured to the first container.
In a particularly useful embodiment, the second container is positioned and removably secured to the bottom of the first container and can be considered as a boot or base of the combined first and second container or bottle system. Thus, for example, the second container may be positioned in stacked relationship to the first container with the second container being positioned at the bottom of the system and the outlet of the first container being positioned substantially directly opposite the second container.
One important advantage of the present invention is that a contact lens case can be located in the compartment of the second container, rather than being directly attached to the first container. This reduces the risk of the lens case being unintentionally separated from the first container or lens care composition bottle. Because the first and second containers are positively secured together, accidental or unintentional separation of the first and second containers is relatively unlikely. Put another way, since a positive force, for example, manual force, is needed to disengage the two containers, the risk of unintentional separation and loss of the contact lens case is reduced.
The first and second containers can be removably secured together using any suitable coupling assembly. The coupling assembly chosen preferably is manually operable, that is the coupling assembly can be engaged or activated using manual force and/or can be disengaged or deactivated using manual force.
In one useful embodiment, the first container preferably includes an outer peripheral sidewall surface and the second container includes an inner peripheral sidewall surface which is structured to matingly engage the outer peripheral sidewall surface to removably secure the second container to the first container. More preferably, the first and second containers are structured to allow the engagement of the inner peripheral sidewall surface to the outer peripheral sidewall surface to be manually overcome. This feature is important since the removable securement of the first and second containers is maintained in the absence of manual force to avoid accidental separation, while being able to be manually overcome, when desired, so as to conveniently expose and enable use of the contents of the second container, for example, the lens case, or instruction pamphlet, enzyme tablets and/or other contact lens care accessory items held in the second container.
The first container preferably includes an outer peripheral surface and the second container includes an end peripheral surface adapted to substantially abut the outer peripheral surface of the first container. This feature effectively provides a substantially smooth transition between the first container and the second container which is beneficial, for example, for aesthetic purposes, and in addition is effective in maintaining the two containers removably secured together, thereby avoiding accidental or unintentional disengagement of the two containers.
In one very useful embodiment, the outer peripheral surface includes an indent near the second end of the first container. The inner peripheral sidewall surface of the second container includes at least one inwardly extending projection, and more preferably a plurality of spaced apart inwardly extending projections, adapted to be received and held in the indent of the outer peripheral surface to at least assist in removably securing the second container to the first container. The plurality of inwardly extending projections spaced apart from each other preferably are located at substantially the same distance from a closed end, for example, the bottom, of the second container.
The present apparatus preferably further comprises a closure assembly coupled to the outlet. The closure assembly includes a passageway in fluid communication with the outlet and is adapted to provide for egress of material, for example, the liquid contact lens care composition, from the chamber of the first container. A cap member is provided and is adapted to be moved between an open position in which the passageway is open and a closed position in which the passageway is closed.
In a particularly useful embodiment, the passageway is partially defined by a hollow projection and the cap member includes a cup structure positioned and adapted to receive the hollow projection when the cap member is in the closed position. The cup structure is separated from the hollow projection when the cap member is located in the open position. An elongate member preferably is provided fixedly secured to the cup structure. This elongate member extends into the passageway when the cap member is in the closed position. Having the elongate member extending into the passageway reduces the risk of unwanted leakage of the contents of the first container chamber with the cap member in the closed position.
The cup structure preferably has an open end into which the hollow projection passes as the hollow projection is received in the cup structure. This open end includes an inwardly extending rim which is adapted to assist in holding the hollow projection in the cup structure. This, again, reduces any unwanted leakage of the contents of the first container with the cap member in the closed position.
The first and second containers can be made of any suitable material or combination of materials effective to meet the requirements of the application involved. In one very useful embodiment, the first container and the second container, as well as the closure assembly, are made of polymeric materials, more preferably thermoplastic polymeric materials. The first container preferably is sized to be held in one hand by a human adult and is squeezable, or sufficiently flexible, using manual force, to facilitate the removal of the material from the chamber of the first container.
In one particularly useful embodiment, the closure assembly preferably is a unitary component. That is, the closure assembly is produced as a single component or piece, for example, by polymeric material molding or other techniques, many of which are conventional and well known in the art.
In another broad aspect of the present invention, a combination comprising a first container, a second container, a contact lens care case, a liquid composition and other contact lens care accessories, is provided. The first container defines a chamber having an outlet. The liquid composition is located in the chamber of the first container and is effective in the care and treatment of contact lenses. The second container defines a compartment structured to contain a separate contact lens container and one or more additional contact lens care accessory items. In one particularly useful embodiment, the second container is partitioned into a plurality of sub-compartments. The second container extends outwardly away from the first container with the second container removably secured to the first container in a manner that permits manual disengagement of the containers without causing jarring of the contents of the second container.
In one embodiment, the liquid composition preferably includes a disinfectant component in an amount effective to disinfect a contact lens immersed in the liquid composition. One particularly useful example of the liquid composition is a multi-purpose contact lens care solution, which includes a non-oxidative disinfectant component and other functional components, such as surfactants, chelating agents, tonicity components, wetting agents, viscosity modifiers and the like, and is effective, for example, as a contact lens disinfectant, a contact lens cleaning composition, a contact lens soaking composition, a contact lens rewetting composition and the like. A number of such compositions are known in the art. One specific example of such a multi-purpose contact lens care solution is the multi-purpose contact lens care solution sold by Allergan under the trademark Complete(copyright).
The contact lens case is preferably adapted to hold two contact lenses immersed in a quantity of the liquid composition.
In another broad aspect of the present invention, apparatus comprising a container and a closure assembly are provided. The container defines a chamber adapted to hold a material, for example, a liquid material, such as a liquid contact lens care composition. The container has an outlet. The closure assembly is coupled, preferably permanently secured, to the container and includes a hollow projection defining a passageway in fluid communication with the outlet and adapted to provide for egress of the material from the chamber. A cap member is included in the closure assembly and is adapted to be moved between an open position in which the passageway is open and a closed position in which the passageway is closed. The cap member includes a cup structure positioned and adapted to receive the hollow projection when the cap member is in the closed position, and to be separated from the hollow projection when the cap member is located in the open position. Each of the features discussed previously with regard to the closure assembly of the two container systems can be used in combination with this container/closure assembly aspect of the present invention.
Any and all features described herein and any and all combinations of such features are included within the scope of the present invention provided that the features of any such combination are not mutually inconsistent.
Additional aspects and advantages of the present invention are set forth in the following description and claims, particularly when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts bear like reference numerals.